Alibaba’s UCWeb launches UC News in India

UCWeb, a leading mobile internet company and part of Alibaba Mobile Business Group, today announced its strategy for 2016, with the launch of UC News App and an upgraded UC Browser. In a first, UC News is an app launched by the company, meant exclusively for India. UC News is powered by big data technology and is a one-stop source of trending and curated news content covering all popular categories that Indian users can consume on the go.

The company, a unit of Alibaba Mobile Business Group, also announced that UC Browser India’s monthly active user base has reached 80 million and continues to grow rapidly. UC Browser is now revamped as a content aggregator and, according to StatCounter, the most used mobile browser in India with over 58% market share as of May 2016.

UC Browser’s usage data shows 73% of its 80 million MAU are tagged as “News Feeds Consumers”. On an average, each UC Browser’s Indian user consumes 6 pieces of news/feeds per day.

Commenting on the new strategy, Kenny Ye, General Manager of UCWeb, Alibaba Mobile Business Group said, “Digital content consumption is on the rise and the challenge is how we can customize, curate and present diverse content to users. Content providers face difficulties in distributing content of different formats, while consumers are swamped by an information overload. Our answer to these challenges is to position ourselves as a content aggregator. The newly launched UC News and upgraded UC Browser for India are two contemporary products embedded with the aim of content aggregation.” The revamped UC Browser also features UC Cricket, an in-app, all-in-one cricket content hub.

UC News offers a platform that brings together both traditional and new media content creators in a single place, and introduces them to millions of Indian users who already enjoy a faster browsing experience on UC Bowser. UC News is an easy to use app, and features a unique and highly user-friendly interface. It is a one-stop source of trending and curated news content covering all the popular categories of news with 20+ featured channels including news, cricket, technology, entertainment, movies, lifestyle, health, humour, etc.

UC News tracks and matches the trending keywords on Facebook and Twitter, and decides on the trending topics before recommending them to the user. UC News also allows users to customize content subscription, as they can choose any kind of content they wish to consume.

To help make valuable opinions heard, UC News is planning to partner with self-publishers and key opinion leaders in the future for original content.

UCWeb in India has grown on the strength of its technology and innovation. The data compression algorithms of UC Browser have helped millions of Indians gain access to the internet at faster speeds without premium pricing, thereby making UC Browser a window to the world for many first time mobile phone users. The latest round of service offerings is set to consolidate UCWeb’s leadership in India’s mobile internet market while helping drive internet accessibility and powering a connected and digital India.

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